Advanced AI for Games – Behaviour Trees (Unity 6 Compatible) by Penny de Byl

This course is all about giving your game characters brains. You’ll build a complete Behaviour Tree library in C# from the ground up, then use it to drive NPCs in a playable art gallery simulation. No black boxes, no magic—just clean, reusable code you fully understand and can drop into any Unity project.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Design and implement a reusable Behaviour Tree API in C#
• Understand tree architectures, nodes, leaves, sequences, and selectors
• Use Unity’s NavMesh system for pathfinding and agent movement
• Implement a Blackboard system for inter-agent communication and world state
• Build complex NPC behaviours like fleeing, patrolling, and cooperation

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Solid understanding of C# and a working knowledge of the Unity Game Engine.
• Tools: Unity 2020 or later (Unity 6 compatible), a code editor like Visual Studio or Rider.

📝 Description

Behaviour Trees are the industry standard for creating believable NPC decision-making. They’re simple to grasp but incredibly powerful, letting you build complex logic from small, reusable pieces. This course skips the theory-heavy lectures and gets straight to coding. You’ll construct a full Behaviour Tree API in C# from zero, so you know exactly how every node, sequence, and selector works under the hood.

The hands-on project is an art gallery simulation. You’ll populate it with visitors, workers, a robber, and a cop, each driven by the tree logic you build. As you progress, you’ll add pathfinding with Unity’s NavMesh, implement a Blackboard system for agents to share world states, and tackle challenges like dynamic priorities and agent cooperation. By the end, you won’t just have a finished library—you’ll have the confidence to extend it and apply it to your own game projects.

Penny’s teaching style is direct and practical. She breaks down each concept into manageable chunks, shows you the code, and explains why it works. The course includes challenges that push you to think like a behaviour tree designer, not just a coder. If you’re tired of tutorials that leave you with a half-understood asset, this course gives you the real deal: a codebase you own and understand completely.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• Intermediate game developers who want to level up their AI programming skills
• Unity developers looking to implement smart, reusable NPC logic
• Anyone curious about how behaviour trees power modern game AI

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Penny de Byl is a veteran of the games industry with nearly 30 years of experience in games, graphics, and AI. She’s the author of two award-winning books on game AI and is known internationally for her clear, engaging teaching style. Her courses focus on practical, hands-on learning, and she’s helped thousands of students understand complex topics like pathfinding, neural networks, and behaviour trees. With her guidance, you’re learning from someone who’s not just taught AI—she’s written the books on it.

🏁 Final Result

• A complete, reusable Behaviour Tree library and API in C# that you can integrate into any Unity project
• A fully functional art gallery simulation with multiple NPCs (robber, cop, visitors, workers) exhibiting distinct, intelligent behaviours
• Practical experience with Unity’s NavMesh, coroutines, and blackboard systems for game AI